The disappearance of flight 370 remains an unprecedented aviation mystery. From the beginning, investigators have pursued all lines of inquiry. They’ve tracked satellite data, attempted to locate possible debris from the aircraft and even looked into pilot and crew involvement.

It began March 8th at 12:41 am when Malaysia Air Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing. 38 minutes later, the crew of the Boeing 777 radioed air traffic controllers “Good Night Malaysian Three Seven Zero”.

Those would be the last words heard from any of the 239 passengers and crew.

The flight path then changed dramatically. The plane turned west over the Malay Peninsula, and made a series of turns along known navigational waypoints. Along the way, the plane’s transponder and communications systems stopped transmitting, but military radar reveal the plane’s path for part of its journey. Once it left radar range it seemed untrackable.

Missing Plane is an unprecedented aviation mystery

Missing Plane is an unprecedented aviation mystery

The disappearance of flight 370 remains an unprecedented aviation mystery. From the beginning, investigators have pursued all lines of inquiry. They've tracked satellite data, attempted to locate possible debris from the aircraft and even looked into pilot and crew involvement.

An often chaotic search began and led by Malaysian officials who had little to go on.

Crews began searching in the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca while investigators focused on two main possibilities: Mechanical failure, or an intentional act possibly by the flight crew. No hard evidence has emerged to support either theory.

Satellite photos repeatedly revealed objects floating in the sea– but none of the photos led to wreckage.

Families became frustrated with the Malaysian led search—waiting hoping but fearing the worst.

Then new hope emerged: fragments of data sent from the plane to a satellite suggested two possible flight plans: One to the north over land, straddling the borders and radar systems of several Asian countries and a southern route, taking it far from land into remote areas of the Indian Ocean. Investigators discarded the northern route after searches found nothing, and began scouring the southern route from the air and on the sea.

But even as searchers continued to work, grim news emerged from Malaysia’s Prime Minister.The job would take a massive international effort, with Malaysian officials coordinating the investigation and Australian officials leading the search efforts off the coast of Perth. The focus of the search was narrowed, moved and refined several times.

Until the most promising lead to date emerged: pings similar to those emitted by the airplanes black boxes detected by Chinese vessel.

John McGraw, an aerospace consultant and former deputy director of the U-S Federal Aviation Administration discusses the pulse signal and what that means about the plane’s location.

John McGraw on Possible Black Box Pings

John McGraw on Possible Black Box Pings

John McGraw, an aerospace consultant and former deputy director of the U-S Federal Aviation Administration discusses the pulse signal and what that means about the plane's location.